University Makes Feast of King Midas

P H I L A D E L P H I A, Sept. 20, 2000 -- Science may never producethe nectar of the gods but a team of U.S. archaeologists hasmanaged to recreate the golden grog of the legendary KingMidas.

“King Midas’s Golden Elixir” sparkles like champagne andtastes like hard cider. And it is about as close as the modernworld is likely to get to the brew Midas and his ancientpeople, the Phrygians, made by mixing fermented grape juicewith beer, honey mead, herbs and spices 2,700 years ago incentral Turkey.

Recipe From Funeral Feast

“At first we wondered what kind of terrible beverage thiswould have been,” said University of Pennsylvania archaeologicalchemist Patrick McGovern, sighing with relief after samplingthe golden-hued elixir. “But it’s eminently drinkable.”

With help from a Delaware microbrewer, the university’sMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology has sought to recreatethe Midas libation from leftovers of the great king’s funeralfeast, which scientists discovered after unearthing his IronAge tomb near Ankara.

“It was like an Irish wake,” explained McGovern, who wasthe project’s senior researcher.

Penn archaeologists have been excavating the site of ancientPhrygian capital Gordion, legendary home of the Gordion knot,since 1950. In 1957, they discovered the wooden tomb of Midascomplete with his skeleton.

Now university officials hope to turn Midas’ famous goldentouch to good use, using the elixir to promote a lavish banquetat the museum featuring his funeral feast’s entree of barbecuedlamb stewed with herbs, lentils, olive oil, honey and wine.

Museum Feast Costs $150

“A Feast Fit for King Midas,” a benefit for Penn’sMolecular Archaeology Program, will kick off an exhibition ofthe tomb’s artifacts on Saturday evening with tickets costingup to $150 a person. Museum caterers are also marketing the“feast” concept to private groups for their functions.

“When financial institutions, corporations and other groupswant to bring a ‘golden touch’ to an evening with business orcivic associates, we’ll be ready,” said Bruce Nichols,president of Museum Catering Company.

According to legend, King Midas was living in a rose-gardenpalace in the mountains of Macedonia when the god Dionysusgranted him his wish to turn everything he touched to gold.Midas soon realized his wish came true even for food and drinkand pleaded to be set free of the wish.

This plea Dionysus also granted, but on condition thatMidas wash in the river Pactolus after crossing into Asia,where he was adopted by childless Phrygian King Gordius.Scientists say the Phrygians were Indo-Europeans who crossedthe Hellespont from Greece just before 1000 B.C. and broke thepower of the Hittites in Asia Minor.

Beer or Bread?

Far from being a greedy fool, Midas was known as warriorking “Mita” to the neighboring Assyrians and ruled Phrygia atthe height of its power. He died a natural death at the age of60 or 65 around 700 B.C., about the time that Homer’s Iliad andOdyssey were being set down in writing by the Greeks.

Scientists say Midas’ unusual drink is important becausethe same grog has been found at Greek archaeological sitesdating back to Minoan Crete and the Bronze Age City of Mycenae,whose mythical King Agamemnon led the Greeks against Troy.

The fact that the Phrygians drank such a concoctionreinforces the scientific theory that they were of Europeanancestry, like the Greeks, and not kin to their Middle Easternneighbors, who had already been drinking resinated wine for5,000 years by the time Midas ascended the throne. Wine did notemerge as a stand-alone libation in Europe until classicaltimes.

The role of beer in ancient society has been acontroversial one among scientists, who debate whether it wasbeer or bread that enticed early man to settle down and plantgrain, thereby laying the foundation for civilisation.

Its recreation, even for fund-raising purposes, offersarchaeologists insight into “how things might have been done inantiquity,” said McGovern.

In 1988, Penn museum officials and Fritz Maytag of theAnchor Steam Brewery founded the Sumerian Beer Project andrecreated an ancient beer based on a 3,800-year-old recipefound in a hymn to the Sumerian beer goddess, Ninkasi. Named inhonor of the goddess, the Sumerian beer’s first and only publictasting was held in 1993.

McGovern said the Midas project marks the first time aprofessional brewer has recreated an ancient drink solely fromthe results of chemical analysis. In this case, it was theanalysis of yellow-colored dregs discovered in drinkingcauldrons and cups left behind in the tomb by Midas’ mourners.

How Much Alcohol?

“I was scared out of my pants,” said Sam Calagione, whoseDogfish Head Craft Brewery of Lewes, Del., was chosen forthe task. “There was no benchmark or precedent for this project— anyone who’d had a benchmark for this brew was long dead.”

Last April, he assembled the ingredients — white Muscatgrapes from California, English barley, thyme honey from Italyand Indian saffron — for a “test” batch of “Origin Ale.”

Calagione wondered at what level of alcohol the ancientsdrank their punch, settling for a comfortable middle groundbetween beer and wine: 7.5 percent.

At what temperature should the juice be fermented? Figuringthat the ancients had no refrigeration, he allowed the mixtureto ferment at ambient temperatures, “sacrificing mellowness forauthenticity,” he explained.

The “test” batch produced two kegs — one for advancesampling and the other for the King Midas feast. It may wellturn out to be the only batch that Calagione will ever make.

“It’s just too expensive to market commercially,” he said— appropriately worth its weight in gold.